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17-Year-Old Boy Killed in Fiery Crash Near Manhattan Bridge

A 17-year-old Brooklyn boy was killed in a fiery crash early Tuesday after police say the 22-year-old driver of the car the teen was riding in lost control going over the Manhattan Bridge and slammed into a hydrant. Katherine Creag reports.

(Published Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2017)

A 17-year-old Brooklyn boy was killed in a fiery crash early Tuesday after police say the 22-year-old driver of the car the teen was riding in lost control going over the Manhattan Bridge and slammed into a hydrant.

Police say the driver, Gerald Joseph of Brooklyn, has been arrested on drunken driving charges following the 2 a.m. accident near Bowery and Canal Streets, which shut down the bridge in-bound for a time as authorities investigated.

The crash knocked the hydrant all the way across the street, the impact causing the vehicle to burst into flames. The victim, Shareef Bellerand, was trapped inside the car; he was later pronounced dead.

Footage from the scene showed the vehicle reduced to a twisted, unrecognizable heap of metal, burned out and wrecked by fire.